Dermatome



Sept. 30, 1947.

.C. L. EIDAM DERMATOME' Filed June 27, 1946 Patented Sept. 30, 1947UNITED STATES PATE-NT OFFICE Y aies-,oie

DERMATOME Earl Louis Edam, Lawrence, Mass. Application June- 27, 1945,Serial No.4 6796.3'1f

4 Claims;

amended April 30,

The invention described herein may be manu.-

iactured and used by or for the. Government. for

governmental purposes: without payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to an. .in-struinent.v for cutting Very thinsections of human skin for skin grafting or plastic surgery.

Atv the present time, several types of dermatomes areknown. One of themore common; is-the type disclosed in U. S. Letters Patent 2,288,709,granted July 7, 1942, to G. J. Hood, which; comprises a body memberhaving a convex shaped outer surface coatedV with an adhesive fortemporarily retaining the skin to be .cut,. in posi.- tion, so that acutting blade mounted for rotation and reciprocation relative to theconvex surface can separate the skin fromA the. body of. the patient.

Another type of dermatome is disclosed in U. Letters Patent. 1,736,246,granted November 19, 1929, to V. P. Blair, and contemplates theuse yof asuction box having an open bottom which is placed on the skin to b egrafted.` A suction is produced within the box by means of a suitablevacuum machine connected to the box.. The knife used to sever the skinis reciprocally mountedy to one side thereof in suitable spaced relationtherewith. Thus, as the knife is operated, it severs the skin raised ordisplayed by the suction produced in the box. c p

Likewise, a dermatome is disclosedr in U. S. Letters Patent 1,935,605-,granted November 2'1, 1933, to J, B. Altruda, comprising a mechanism,which with thev exception of the blade and manner of mounting it, issimilar to the mechanism em pl'oyed in certain hair clipping devices. Ithas a reciprocating blade mounted in spaced relation with a motordrivenv roller which moves ahead of said: blad-e and forces the skininto position for severance by the blade.

It has, however, been: found present, no dermatome thin. skin sectionsvwhi throughout.

that there are; at s capable of removing very ch. will be entirelyuniform This is due primarily to the tact that none of the dermatomescan accurately position and. hold. the skin. to be cut in. the. desiredrelationship with the cutting blade.. With the use ofthe instrument ofthis invention,. the skin. oi the person from whom the graft isr to betaken is automatically drawn into proper relation toJ the cutting blade,and. the width and thickness. of: the skin section to be removed areeasily adjusted 'so thatit. is possibleto remove a very thin skinsection, as thi-n as 0.006 inc-h in thickness. This section will beentirely uni-form. With this instru- 2 ment, it is possible for thefirst time to. remove only a portion of the growth layer of the' skin ofpredetermined thickness and thus/leave a portion of the growth layer ofskin livingon the body of the person in the: area from which the graftis removed. The-portion of ther growth layer left in the area fromfwhichthe graft' is removed will heal without any scar, and as it is" healed,a subsequent graft. may'be taken from the same area of the personsskin'. This wasnot possible prior to the development of thisinstrument.` Since, with the use of instruments heretofore employed,which are incapable of removing suchthi-n layers of skin withuniformity, thel entire growth layer of' skin is necessarily `retrievedin the areai-rom which the graft is taken. -v

It is therefore anl object of this invention to prov-ide a dermatomecapablen of removing very thin sections of the growth layer of skin of apers-on so as to leave no scar after healing.

It is a further. object of this invention toaprovide a dermatome havinga motor operatedl reciprocatingcutting blade and vmeans associated withthis instrument for automatically drawing the skin ofthe person fromwhom the gra-ft, is being taken into: certain predetermined relationto.f the cutting blade.

It is a. still further object of this invention to provide a dermatomecapableV of cutting varying widths of skin by reason of a simpleadjusting mechanism provided on said dermatome.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide on adermatomey a simple-adjusting mechanism for varying the kthickness ofskin outv by the reciprocating blade of theinstrument.

It is a, still further object oi this invention: t'o provide on a.derni-atome an adjustable,V evacuated, rotating. mem-ber for 'drawingthe skin of the person from@ whom the graft is tol be taken into a.predetermined relation with a motor operated reciprocating cuttingblademounted thereon.`

rLhese and other objects of my invention wil-libecome.v apparent fromthe.y following. detailed de'- seriptiorr. taken in. conjunction withthe accom;- panying drawing. in which:

Fig. 1 isv a. perspective view of the dermatome.

Fig. 2- is a.. side view takenalong. line 2'-2 of Referring to. Fig. 1,.it will be seen that the dermatome comprises av main. frame tA havingas;- sociated therewith blade means; consisting of' a suitable: bladeholder 't' and a cutting blade 9. Blade hoi-der 'I with. ther cutting.blade' 9' suitably scoured thereto is: adapted; forreciprocationtransversely of the frame 5. For reciprocating the and reciprocatingblade holder 1 and blade 9 transversely of frame 5.

Adjustable means are provided for drawing the V skin of the person fromwhom the graft is to be taken into a certain predeterminedrelationshipwith cutting blade 9. This means comprises a yoke generallyindicated as at 2,4, pivotally supported on brackets 29 by pivot members30. One arm 25 of yoke 24 is welded in place as at 26, while the otherarm 21 is releasably heldin place by screw 28. Brackets 29 are rigidlysecured to the frame 5. A hollow cylindrical casing'3 I mounted at theouter end of the yoke 24 between arms 25 and 21, is provided with aplurality of selector openings 33 on the underside of the casing 3ldirected downwardly towards frame and cutting-blade 9. The interior ofcasing 3I communicates with a connector 34 to which is attached aflexible vacuum line 35 (shown in phantom). The vacuum line 35 isattached to a vacuum pump (not shown) capable of applyingsuicient vacuumwithin casing 3I to hold the skin Vof a person against a perforatedcylinder 31 which is rotatably mounted on the casing 3l. Within casing3I a plunger or separating member 39is provided which is associated witha screw 4I for the adjustment of member 39 axially within cyl- Vindercasing 3I. The adjustment of the member 39 within the casing 3|determines through what portion of the perforated cylinder 31`the vacuumcreated in easing 3I will be effective, in order to draw the skin of theperson against the periphery of perforated cylinder 31.

An adjusting screw 43 is provided for adjusting f thev position of theperforated roller 31 with respect to the cutting blade 9. The adjustingscrew 43 is threaded into frame 5 and a spring 45 encircles it and isconfined under compression between the cap of the screw 43 and frame 5.The upper end of spring 45 abuts the arm 44 which is welded to the yoke24 so as to tend to lift up the portion thereof with which the spring 45is associated and thereby tend to urge the perforated roller 31downwardly towards the cutting blade.

' Removable handles 41 and 49 interconnected by a spring 5| and providedwith channels or grooves 53 within which opposite edges of the frame 5 twhen the handles 41 and 49 are applied, are provided to allow easierhandling and manipulation of the dermatone.

In operation, the instrument is manipulated so that the underside of theframe 5 engages theA skin of the person in the area from which the'graft is to be taken. The perforated roller 31 is mounted in a positionslightly forwardly of the 'cutting edge of the blade 9, having referenceto the direction in which the instrument is moved during the cuttingoperation. With the blade 9 reciprocating transversely of the frame 5and the interior of the casing 3l leftwardly of the member 39 beingevacuated through the vacuum line 35, the skin will be drawn against theperforated cylinder 31 in an area dened by the openings 33 in the casing3l leftwardly of member 39. Thus the width of skin which is drawn intoengagement with the perforated cylinder 31 will be determined by theposition of the member 39 within the casing 3I, so adjusted by means ofthe screw 4I. The thickness of the skin section to be removed will bedetermined by the adjustment of the screw 43. Thus, the farther theperforated cylinder 31 is moved upwardly relative to the cutting blade9, the thicker will be the skin section to be out. As the instrument ismoved over the area of skin from which the graft is to be taken, theperforated cylinder 31 will rotate and a fresh area of skin willconstantly be drawn-into engagement with the perforated cylinder 31 inthe area thereof defined by the openings 33 in the casing 3|, the skinbeing thus held in predetermined relation to the blade 9.

It will therefore be seen that I have provided a dermatome which iscapable of removing only a portion ofthe growth layer of skin ofpredetermined thickness and which is capable of removing varying widthsof said skin.

While I have described one particular embodiment of my invention, it isto be understood that I do not wish to be restricted thereto and that Iintend to cover all modifications thereof which would be apparent to oneskilled in the art and which come within the spirit and scope of theappended claims.

I claim:

1. In a dermatome for removing a predetermined thickness of skin, aframe, a roller rotatably mounted onrthe frame adapted to contact theskin to be removed, said roller having the periphery thereof permeableto the flow of air therethrough, means internal of the roller forproducing a subatmospheric pressure only in that portion of the rollerin Contact with the skin, whereby the skin is supported in rm contactwith the roller, and cutting means mounted on the frame and movable in aplane parallel to the axis of the roller. Y

2. In a dermatome for removing a predetermined thickness of skin, aframe, a roller rotatably mounted on the frame adapted to contact theskin to be removed, said roller having the periphery thereof perforated,means positioned internally of the roller having port means therein inregister with the said perforations only in the Zone in contact with theskin, means for producing a subatmospheric pressure at said port means,whereby the skin is supported in firm contact with the roller, andcutting means mounted on the frame and movable in a plane parallel tothe axis of the roller.

3. In a dermatome for removing a predetermined thickness of skin, aframe, a roller rotatably mounted on the frame, said roller having theperiphery thereof perforated, means positioned internally of the rollerhaving spaced ports therein in register with the said perforations onlyin the zone thereof in contact with the skin, means for producing asubatmospheric pressure at said transversely adjustable separating meansWithin said cylindrical casing adapted to separate any desired number ofsaid ports from said means for producing subatmospherie pressure, andthereby Vary the Width of said casing under subatmospherio pressurewhereby only the skin beneath the portion of saidroller still undersubatmospherie pressure is supported in rm Contact with said roller,cutting means mounted on said frame and movable in a plane parallel tothe axis of the roller.

CARL LOUIS EIDAM.

